THE FIRST BOOK TO EXAMINE THE SPIRITUAL theft and appropriation that so marks our time. A detailed and well-documented study, it illustrates how the enneagram movement commercialized an ancient alchemical symbol, how Robert Burton, founder of The Fellowship of Friends, arrogated the Fourth Way teaching, and how Boris Mouravieff plagiarized and tried to appropriate it. Taking With the Left Hand is a lucid and compelling account of conflict and charlatanism surrounding one of the most important alternative spiritual movements of our day, Indeed, one sees the crisis unfold before one`s eyes, for the author does not hesitate to charge those he finds responsible for debasement of the message of George Gurdjieff with opportunism and self-inflation. This book is important as a `white paper` for those concerned about the fate of the broader Gurdjieff movement, and as a case study for all students of contemporary spiritual movements. -- Robert Ellwood, Chairman, Dept. of Religion, University of Southern California William Patrick Patterson is the author of two highly praised books on the Fourth Way: Struggle of the Magicians, which explores the teacher-student relationship as seen through the lives of G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky, A. R. Orage, Jean Toomer, and J, G. Bennett, and Eating The `I,` a spiritual autobiography and the first modern book to show the teaching in action. He is the founder and editor of Telos, the international quarterly devoted to exploring the ancient teaching of the Fourth Way brought and embodied by G. I. Gurdjieff.